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Fatal injuries increase by 2 per cent in U.S.

By COS staff

10/14/2015|www.cos-mag.com

A preliminary total of 4,679 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2014, an increase of two per cent over from 2013, according to results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The preliminary rate of fatal work injury for U.S. workers in 2014 was 3.3 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers (the same as in 2013).

The number of fatal work injuries in private goods-producing industries in 2014 was nine per cent higher than 2013 but slightly lower in private service-providing industries. Fatal injuries were higher in mining (up 17 per cent), agriculture (up 14 per cent), manufacturing (up nine per cent) and construction (up six percent). Fatal work injuries for government workers were lower (down 12 per cent).

Falls, slips, and trips increased 10 per cent to 793 in 2014 from 724 in 2013. This was driven largely by an increase in falls to a lower level to 647 in 2014 from 595 in 2013.

Fatal work injuries involving workers 55 years of age and over rose nine per cent to 1,621 in 2014. The preliminary 2014 count for workers 55 and over is the highest total ever reported by CFOI.

After a sharp decline in 2013, fatal work injuries among self-employed workers increased 10 per cent in 2014 to 1,047.

Women incurred 13 per cent more fatal work injuries in 2014 than in 2013. Even with this increase, women accounted for only eight per cent of all fatal occupational injuries in 2014.

In 2014, 797 decedents were identified as contracted workers, six per cent higher than the 749 fatally-injured contracted workers reported in 2013. Workers who were contracted at the time of their fatal injury accounted for 17 per cent of all fatal work injury cases in 2014.

The number of fatal work injuries among police officers and police supervisors was higher in 2014, rising from 88 in 2013 to 103 in 2014, an increase of 17 per cent.